Land, Sea and Safari September/October 2013

[scrapjacks]

Great photos, Polly!

I'm just getting caught up but WOW! It looks like a great trip! Love the view at AK.

Dana

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Great photos, Polly! I'm just getting caught up but WOW! It looks like a great trip! Love the view at AK. Dana

Thanks Dana!

 

[Luvchefmic]

WOW ! Yeah for option B Jo choosing Paula that view is a m a z i n g !! what an upgrade awwww, cute MM figurine for your birthday

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

WOW ! Yeah for option B Jo choosing Paula that view is a m a z i n g !! what an upgrade awwww, cute MM figurine for your birthday

thank you! I know she chooses so well!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Update meeting with Dana.

One afternoon after the cruise we meet up with a lovely lady I meet on the disboards called Dana. We were in the same FE together on a cruise and meet up getting on really well! We stayed in contact and I now consider her one of my very dearest friends. I treasure her emails and updates she sends me every week.,

We meet in Downtown Disney. After a sandwich at the Earl ( all american of course ) and a shop in Trend and World of Disney we headed out to meet Dana by our mutual fav icon the Lego store! I am AFOL ( adult fan of lego ) finding it very relaxing during my illness and Dana loves it for her DS and DD.

The parking in DTD at the moment is like something from American Horror Story whilst they build The Springs so finding parking spaces is very hard! We meet up and webt to sit on the umbrella seats by the river. Dana got us some great goodies like cookies of all different flavours. I have never sampled such wonderful cookies in my life! Jo ate the mint choc chip one ( I can't eat chocolate or nuts ) , but I had a raisin and cinnamon one that I didn't want to end! She also got us some great gifts and her DD had drawn a lovely picture which I am going to get framed. It made it home flat!

Here we are...

It was a wonderful afternoon thanks Dana!

 

[scrapjacks]

Breck's Gourmet Cookies..downtown Kissimmee. There is a Farmers Market on Tuesday mornings downtown too.

We look HOT! lol..hot because it is FL and 100 degrees!

Great to see you and Jo again.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Breck's Gourmet Cookies..downtown Kissimmee. There is a Farmers Market on Tuesday mornings downtown too. We look HOT! lol..hot because it is FL and 100 degrees! Great to see you and Jo again.

Oh thanks Dana we will have to check out that farmers market sounds fun! And get a bucket load of cookies! It was hot a far cry from England today lol.. But I focus on the positive.. The money we save on air con lol...

 

[Pinkocto]

Paula, there is an out of this world delicious cookie cart in a lot of the train stations in London, any thoughts of the name? Mimi's or something? My mom and I fell in love with those cookies!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Paula, there is an out of this world delicious cookie cart in a lot of the train stations in London, any thoughts of the name? Mimi's or something? My mom and I fell in love with those cookies!

Ahhh it's probably a chain called Millie's cookies yes it's very nice! I have one 10 mins from my house in a local shopping mall. They do a fabulous Christmas cookie with cinnamon and Christmas spices. Nice ice cream too. Not as good though as the ones Dana got they were out of this world! Maybe even a new food group lol.

 

[Pinkocto]

Millie's, yes, that's it! Their white chocolate and raspberry was so good! I'll have to find the ones Dana brought you.

 

[scrapjacks]

Always fun to leave the resort area and get a bit of the local flavor! Downtown Kissimmee is right on Lake Toho..world famous bass fishing! And airboat rides...Paula has tried the airboat tours out. Florida fun!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Millie's, yes, that's it! Their white chocolate and raspberry was so good! I'll have to find the ones Dana brought you.

yes you will! The red velvet ones were made by little elves I think. Yummy to the core.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Always fun to leave the resort area and get a bit of the local flavor! Downtown Kissimmee is right on Lake Toho..world famous bass fishing! And airboat rides...Paula has tried the airboat tours out. Florida fun!

hi Dana! The airboat rides were fab it's true! Dana has the best recommendations!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Wow nearly at the end! What's great about the trip reports is you get to live it twice!

So my birthday at MK!

I woke up at VWL and had opened my birthday presents Jo had brought with her. I got a lovely purple ICE watch plus back home I had already got an updated Rollator I wanted with lights and a better frame. Jo also got me a wonderful balloon from from DHS and two tops from SuperDry. A UK store I really like. Feeling very spoilt we had breakfast ( lucky charms of course ) and listed our fastpass+ options I had chosen.

I had..

ETWB
Meeting Mickey mouse and pals
Meeting Rupunzel and guest princess ( which was Snow white )

We were keen to get the MagicBands to use the Fastpass+ but these were at the AKV because that is where we were staying that night and was the reason we had been given MagicBands. Wilderness Lodge was not participating in FP+ at this stage or SSR. We could use our plastic PAP but I wanted to show off my MB in the park. So we went to check in to the Animal Kingdom before heading to the MK.

We had not been given the option to customise the bands so we had grey ones. I asked if they had any colour ones spare. The CM at club level checking us in ( see previous post about getting a free upgrade! ) said actually he did have one yellow one for some reason so would I like that? Would I! It is the colour I would have choose! I was delighted this was turning out to be one great birthday!

After we checked in and got our bands ( room wasn't ready but we gave a cell phone number they could text then the bands would open the door to the room they text us ) we went to the shop to get the cool goodies to put on the bands. They do jewels and characters etc like the little buttons for crocs. It comes with a nice year one ( I hope they do this each each so you can collect them ) and we also got some coloured jewels and a love, peace and Mickey mouse clip ons.

Next ETWB , meeting Mickey and the first the princesses...

 

[franandaj]

Hey Paula! It sounds like your birthday was incredibly magical with all those gifts and surprises! That room you got was the same one that we had about six years ago. Probably not the exact same room, but same layout with the giant bathroom and extra sitting area with microwave and wet bar.

Major score!

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Hey Paula! It sounds like your birthday was incredibly magical with all those gifts and surprises! That room you got was the same one that we had about six years ago. Probably not the exact same room, but same layout with the giant bathroom and extra sitting area with microwave and wet bar. Major score!

thanks! Cool re same room! Glad you both got back safe and had a great time too.

I also forgot to mention the lovely pin set Jo got for my birthday. The passholders new FantasyLand set. Amazing detail. Going to get it framed!

 

[Pinkocto]

Beautiful pins

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

Beautiful pins

i know I can't wait to get them framed! They look like stain glass. Really amazing detail. I was blown away by them. Love your pin too from the tour.

 

[Paula Sedley-Burke]

So after we got our MagicBands from AK we headed out to MK. Our first Fastpass+ was ETWB.

Here I am looking very happy in main street with my shiny new yellow MagicBand.

We liked that you can have your room key, ticket and photopass on it. Very handy as we were forever trying to find that photopass card with the photographer glaring at us as Jo walked through her deck of cards...Amex..room key etc etc...

Here is Jo on Main Street...

When getting to ETWB you swipe your MagicBand at the kiosk and it lights up if you are in your allotted time. We got the green line and went on in!

I didn't take any photo's as it's dark in there and you aren't allowed to use the flash. I won't spoil the attraction for those that haven't done it but we enjoyed it. We did it before in the DVC New FantasyLand preview but this time it seemed more polished. It's mainly geared towards children but it's very enjoyable to watch. I like that attraction.

Next we moved onto a meet with Mickey at Town hall. I was delighted this was added to Fastpass+ because the queue is always so long and it didn't take GAC. So I was very excited I wanted a nice photo of Jo and I with Mickey for my FB profile.

By now we have burned the calories of breakfast, snacks and so we needed to score some lunch so we head to Pesco bills. We had some mighty fine burgers. Love the fact that you can add lots of salad and mushrooms etc yourself.

All fuelled up we went to our final FastPass+ for that day which was meet and greet with Rupunzel and guest princess. It was Snow White so I was made up about that.

Swoosh swoosh of the MagicBands go green light. So long suckers in line!

Rupunzel signed my autograph book and chatted about how much she adored cupcakes. She was really nice. Here we are..

Then onto Snow White...

Phew done for the day! We headed out of MK but I had one more Princess I wanted to see. Merida. There was no Fastpass or Gak option but the line wasn't too long so we waited. Score! Princess number 3!

I must admit this character meet and greet is new to me I have always considered myself too old but on the cruise I really enjoyed it and so I just got stuck right in there autographs and all. It was a blast!

By now I was totally exhausted. Foolishly my scooter had gone back to the rental company due to us changing resorts so Jo had to wheel me out of MK. I was so fatigued she stop to get me some sugar and we got the most amazing drink from Sleepy Hollow I have ever tried! It even beat Butterbeer or Le Fous brew and I love those! It was a slushy that was red , white and blue mixed with vanilla ice cream on top. It was a special combining the liberty swirl slush and layering soft serve vanilla on top omg! Died and gone to heaven! I think it was called the American Dream or something. Wish I could remember!

That night I couldn't move so Jo went to the Olive Garden and got a take out. Best birthday ever!

Next up meet and greet with Cinderella, Ariel and Jasmine plus BOG lunch!

 

[Pinkocto]

That slushie sounds like sugar overload! I'll have to check it out.

Cute pictures with the characters I'm noticing a shirt change, did you go shopping?

Pecos Bills is so tarty, love the sautéed mushrooms and nacho cheese for my taco salad.